As a Startup You Should Not Be Consulting

Challenges the common startup advice against consulting by examining the spectrum of customer-facing roles—from evangelists and DevRel to sales engineers, solutions architects, and professional services. Argues that startups need strategic customer engagement and knowledge transfer to succeed, especially in open-source ecosystems. Explores how VARs, SIs, MSPs, and ISVs fit into the landscape, and advocates for building feedback loops with customers while properly compensating domain experts. Questions why investors discourage consulting while encouraging similar activities under different labels.